The young woman’s black dress, solemn disposition, and wedding ring signal a state of mourning. A church steeple in the background symbolizes the woman’s faith and purity, while the vegetation in the foreground suggests that she stands near her loved one’s grave. The golden lighting, low vantage point, and the figure’s windblown hair contribute to the composition’s air of introspection. Constant Mayer specialized in sentimental scenes of everyday life, yet he also displayed a fidelity to nature that harmonized with the work of the British Pre-Raphaelite painters. Executed just after the Civil War, Love’s Melancholy resonated with the American public. A color reproduction of the painting, called a chromolithograph, was produced and distributed by 1869.